What are my legal rights if there is no lease and tenant is not paying rent as agreed?
Full Question:
Answer:
A tenant without a written lease is generally considered an at-will or month-to-month tenant. A tenant at will is typically required to continue rent payments as long as they are permitted to remain. A landlord must typically serve a written notice on the tenant, specifying the amount of rent owed and demanding payment in a period of time required by state law, or face termination of the lease. To terminate an at-will tenancy in New York, a 30 day written notice is required to be given to the tenant.
It is possible that there will be evidentiary problems in proving the terms of the lease without a written contract. Other evidence may be required to establish what the terms agreed upon were, such as canceled checks, etc..
The following is a NY statute:
Sec. 228. Termination of tenancies at will or by sufferance, by notice.
A tenancy at will or by sufferance, however created, may be terminated by a written notice of not less than thirty days given in behalf of the landlord, to the tenant, requiring him to remove from the premises; which notice must be served, either by delivering to the tenant or to a person of suitable age and discretion, residing upon the premises, or if neither the tenant nor such a person can be found, by affixing it upon a conspicuous part of the premises, where it may be conveniently read. At the expiration of thirty days after the service of such notice, the landlord may re-enter, maintain an action to recover possession, or proceed, in the manner prescribed by law, to remove the tenant, without further or other notice to quit.